How to Deliver Customized Experiences While Prioritizing Data Privacy

Personalization has been a key driver of retail success for a number of years. Today, user data serves as a crucial enabler of personalized experiences. 82% of customers are comfortable in sharing their personal information with retailers for customized experiences. However, they have become more conscious about who they share their data with and how their data is used.

Last year, 70% of customers in Latin and South America claimed that their purchasing decisions are based on a retailer’s reputation for data protection. In fact, 40% admitted that they stopped purchasing from companies that violated data privacy laws, or just their digital trust. It is clear that retailers who fail to safeguard their customers’ data can lose their loyalty.

Data breaches have serious consequences. They impact consumer trust and bring financial, reputational, and legal implications. Retailers may be forced to pay huge penalties and suffer reputational and financial damage. Retailers must be able to mitigate these risks, and technology can play a pivotal role in helping them achieve that.

Mitigating Risks

To protect data privacy, retailers should take into account some actions beforehand. Cybersecurity training for employees and deploying a wider cybersecurity solution are essential practices today. However, these may not be enough to protect against the increased threat surfaces. To ensure high-level security, retailers must select their individual retail solutions wisely too.

Retailers utilize customer relationship management (CRM) tools to manage and store customer data. These tools must be compliant with the legal requirements of watchdogs. Teamwork Commerce’s Secure CRM solution is GDPR compliant and uses the highest level of security to protect customer data.

Furthermore, the state-of-the-art technology keeps customer data secure in a separate repository, allowing associates, devices and other integrations to access the information as required. The advanced CRM allows retailers to store all data centrally and ensure that information is not revealed or imported to local devices and systems.

Driving Personalization

Consumer habits and preferences continue to evolve, and retailers must ensure that the experiences they curate are valuable for their customers. They must use the latest solutions to reach their goal. These solutions can work with a retailer’s retail technology stack.

Teamwork Commerce’s all-encompassing software serves as a one-stop-shop solution for retailers, offering a variety of retail tools. These include a mobile point-of-sale system, secure customer relationship management, data analytics, order management, and Clienteling.

What’s more, the solution facilitates a clear retail vision in one place and makes it easy for retailers to track data and develop new strategies. At an individual store level, with this real-time data at their fingertips, store associates can answer customer queries and offer customized discounts accurately and quickly.

Taking a 360-Degree Approach

Personalizing customer experiences is essential. However, retailers must not put consumer data privacy at stake in order to achieve that. The retail sector is a primary target for cybercriminals who are looking for opportunities to penetrate and steal customer data. Retailers who skimp on securing this data can easily become vulnerable to potential cyberattacks.

Retailers must take a holistic approach that covers all aspects of their business. Retailers’ strategies and solutions should work together to ensure long-term success. This includes driving personalization, managing supply chain efficiency and ensuring high-level security.

Want to prioritize data privacy while still being able to tailor customer experiences? Get in touch.